Spinout Spotlight

We offer a viable solution to the scarcity of fully functional primary human hepatocytes.

Von Baer Wolff is focused on the fabrication of human hepatocytes with one primary goal: To become the premier supplier of iPS-derived human hepatocytes to science and industry.

Our technology is complex but its benefits are easy to measure. Significant cost savings, improved drug safety and effectiveness, and hope for those affected with liver disease. An abundant supply of human hepatocytes empowers researchers to explore new ideas that can positively impact patient outcomes.

We follow three steps to offer this viable solution:

Step 1: Make primary human hepatocytes from stem cells.

Step 2: Modify them using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing tools.

Step 3: Mature and multiply them in in vivo incubators.

For the most recent news about vonbaewolff, please visit www.vonbaerwolff.com

Neoolife is a Bio-MedTech start-up company based on tissue-engineering strategies and the University of Pittsburgh – Fondazione RiMED shared IPs developed within the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Neoolife operates as a Delaware C-Corporation and includes an international and multidisciplinary team with sizeable cumulative experience in bio-med technology and device therapy for cardiovascular disease.

Neoolife is focusing on polymeric heart valves and valve tissue.

Neoolife’s revolutionary and unique manufacturing process allows for creating a bioengineered polymeric scaffold (no cell seeding, no animal-derived tissues). Once implanted, this scaffold is progressively replaced by newly generated and growing human heart valve tissue (endogenous in situ tissue regeneration).

Neoolife’s biodegradable polymeric scaffold is made using a novel and unique electrodeposition process called double component deposition (DCD). This technology allows us to:

• Produce polymeric scaffolds that mimic the structure and function of human heart-valve tissue (i.e., aortic, mitral, pulmonary, and tricuspid);
• Produce polymeric scaffolds that promote the intracardiac regeneration of new living tissue, with lifetime durability and resistance to thrombosis and calcification.

Using this innovative technology, Neoolife will:

• Manufacture tailored polymeric scaffolds (patches) to repair the human heart valve and any intracardiac defect;
• Manufacture polymeric heart valve prostheses that are highly compressible and can be loaded into catheters (12-14 French size) and allow for “true” low profile transcatheter technologies;
• Manufacture very low-profile heart-valve prostheses for minimally invasive surgical procedures.

Neoolife’s technology can address the majority of the tissue heart-valves market (surgical and percutaneous). This market will reach globally $ 12.5 billion in revenue by 2025 with a double-digit CAGR. In the specific field of percutaneous treatment of valve disease, Neoolife technology will generate new market opportunities by addressing younger patients and patients with anatomical limitations that are nowadays referred for conventional surgery.

Moreover, the manufacturing of a polymeric patch to repair intracardiac and epicardial defects, including valve pathologies, will further broaden the potential market that Neoolife’s technology could address.

For the most recent news about Neoolife, please contact Antonio D’Amore at and78@pitt.edu or David Kokot at David.Kokot@Neoolife.com.

Emergence Dental is a research and development-stage medical device company taking a dental-first approach to emerging new regenerative products from metallic magnesium alloys, that safely resorb when implanted in the body. Emergence Dental focuses on medical device design and pre-clinical development activities combining intellectual property from nanoMAG, LLC (patented magnesium alloy composition) and the University of Pittsburgh (patent-pending dental-specific devices, know how, and expert clinical advisors).

Emergence Dental’s product portfolio aims to increase the predictability and decrease the time and expense required for oral surgeons and periodontists to perform dental bone grafting procedures on patients preparing to receive dental implants. The unpredictable nature of dental bone grafting procedures can add months of healing time and thousands of dollars in cost to the process of receiving dental implants to replace missing teeth. Currently used materials for dental bone grafting are most frequently obtained from cadavers and animals or are composed of metals containing nickel and aluminum which limit their use in patients with religious or philosophical objections to animal or human-derived products, as well as patients with metal sensitivities.

Emergence Dental was co-founded by Andrew Brown, PhD (President and CEO) and Charles Sfeir, DDS, PhD ( Secretary, Chair of the Clinical and Technology Advisory Boards).

ECM Therapeutics is a regenerative medicine company that develops and manufactures diagnostic and therapeutic products derived from a naturally occurring material called extracellular matrix (ECM).

Clinical Challenge

Cell-based and drug-based approaches for tissue and organ replacement have not met the hopes and expectations of the medical community or the patients in need of such therapies. The reasons are numerous, but the common theme is the failure of cells and engineered tissues to survive following implantation in the patient. An effective strategy to overcome this barrier represents an opportunity to address several serious unmet medical needs and change the practice of medicine.

Technology Solution

Naturally occurring biologic materials composed of extracellular matrix (ECM) have been successfully used for almost 20 years as surgical meshes and topical wound products. ECM Therapeutics has developed a hydrogel form of ECM that represents Mother Nature’s version of the ideal “niche” in which cells thrive. The ECM hydrogel promotes a number of constructive wound healing events including: 1) the mobilization and differentiation of the body’s local stem cells, 2) the transformation of the immune system from a pro-inflammatory phenotype to an anti-inflammatory, tissue healing phenotype, and 3) the suppression of abnormal signaling pathways within pre-cancerous and cancer cells. The ECM hydrogel represents a solution to many potential serious medical problems. The first products target esophageal and colorectal disease.

For the most recent news about ECM Therapeutics, please visit www.ecmtherapeutics.com

​Renerva®, LLC. is a rapidly-growing and innovative medical device company founded in 2017.

Our main focus is to develop and commercialize implantable technologies to improve the outcome of peripheral nerve repair procedures. Renerva’s initial therapeutic focus is on the 500,000 Americans suffering from acute nerve injuries every year, with other indications including the treatment of chronic compressive nerve injuries and other conditions affecting the peripheral nerves.

We are privately held and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where we operate in a state-of-the-art laboratory facility.

We are building a stellar team and nourishing a culture of high performance and team cohesiveness with the focused mission of helping patients affected by peripheral nerve injury by advancing nerve recovery and restoring the hope of achieving a good quality of life.

For the most recent news about Renerva®, LLC please visit www.renerva.com